Speaking in New Orleans about Hurricane Katrina today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) tried to contrast himself with President Bush’s delayed response to Katrina, saying, “I would’ve landed my airplane at the nearest Air Force base and come over personally.” But as Newsweek notes, on Aug. 29, 2005, when Katrina had just hit New Orleans, McCain was posing with President Bush for his 69th birthday:

It was Aug. 29, McCain’s 69th birthday, and on the tarmac, Bush presented his old political rival with a cake. The two posed, holding the cake up for cameras, and within seconds, went their separate ways. The cake, melting in the 110-degree Arizona heat, was left behind, uneaten.

“Yet on the issue of New Orleans, it’s still unclear how different McCain and Bush actually are,” Newsweek writes, noting that McCain has visited the Ninth Ward only twice since the storm. “The senator won’t present his own plans for recovery, at least not today.”

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